A massive leak of Russian military procurement files obtained by Danish and German journalists has revealed extensive details of the country’s nuclear weapons modernization program, including internal blueprints of missile bases and underground structures.
Four years after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new generation of nuclear weapons in a 2018 speech, framing them as a response to Western resistance. “Nobody wanted to listen to us. So listen now,” he declared. Since the launch of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian officials and propagandists have repeatedly used nuclear threats in attempts to deter Western support for Ukraine.
Danwatch and Der Spiegel journalists reportedly obtained and analyzed more than two million documents. They show not just the scale of physical reconstruction but also reinforce that Russia’s nuclear modernization is active, real, and more advanced than previously visible from open sources.
Leaked secrets from deep inside Yasny base
The publications obtained access to hundreds of original highly detailed technical blueprints, “that Danwatch systematically retrieved from a public database over a period of many months.” Those show how Russia has secretly rebuilt and fortified its strategic missile forces. The documents reveal comprehensive upgrades at sites like the Yasny base in Orenburg Oblast, one of 11 sites in Russia, where nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are deployed.
Blueprints show the creation of triple electric fencing, underground tunnels, new barracks, remote-controlled weapons systems, surveillance infrastructure, and highly detailed interior layouts. The missile bases, once only observable from satellites, are now described room by room, including control centers, storage vaults, guardrooms, gyms, and even recreation areas.
“Entire bases have been almost leveled and rebuilt from the ground up; hundreds of new barracks, watchtowers, control centers and storage buildings have been erected; and several kilometers of underground tunnels have been excavated,” Danwatch wrote.
Intelligence goldmine
“This is the ultimate intelligence,” said Philip Ingram, former British Army intelligence officer. Hans M. Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists added: “Now […] we can go inside the buildings… and all the way underground. It’s completely unprecedented.”
The leak is a result of poorly secured Russian procurement platforms, where confidential tenders and documents remained publicly accessible for years. Danwatch and Der Spiegel have identified blueprints for the strategic nuclear weapons bases attached to tenders as recently as the summer of 2024.
As conventional forces falter, Russia’s nuclear reliance comes into focus
Despite a 2020 law restricting public access to military tenders, journalists were able to retrieve sensitive data using digital methods and server networks across Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.
According to Norwegian expert Tom Røseth,
“This is information Russia would obviously want to keep hidden. It makes their bases potentially more vulnerable.”
The exposed facilities include those hosting the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle—central to Putin’s vision of renewed nuclear deterrence.
While Russia officially maintains that its nuclear doctrine prohibits the first use of nuclear weapons, the leaked documents coincide with a noticeable shift in its military posture. According to a statement provided to Danwatch by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS), Russia has become increasingly reliant on its nuclear arsenal as a means of deterrence against the West, largely due to the degradation of its conventional military capabilities amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.